Martin Pelchat, University of Ottawa
Associate Professor
Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Immunology
Ottawa, Ontario
mpelchat@uottawa.ca
Office:
(613) 562-5800 ext. 8846
Expert In
Bio/Research
Subviral RNA pathogens, like plant viroids and the human hepatitis delta virus are the smallest known virion. These unusual pathogens are composed of a remarkably compact stranded circular RNA molecule consisting of 300 - 1700 nucleotides. Since they do not encode their own replication machinery,...
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Bio/Research
Subviral RNA pathogens, like plant viroids and the human hepatitis delta virus are the smallest known virion. These unusual pathogens are composed of a remarkably compact stranded circular RNA molecule consisting of 300 - 1700 nucleotides. Since they do not encode their own replication machinery, they must entirely rely on host cellular components. How the normal host proteins are usurped to replicate these pathogens is an important issue and exposes a previously unknown ability of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase to use RNA as template. The objectives of our group is to characterize the host-components involved in subviral RNA pathogens replication and study their interactions at the molecular level. Overall, the results that will be generated will be a fundamental building block for the further study of viroid and viroid-like viruses, and for the design of inhibitors preventing their replication.
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